Planning for Proximity, for the Climate’s Sake

A new platform, the Global Observatory of Sustainable Proximities, was launched during the Second United Nations Habitat Assembly earlier this week. The platform “will serve as a go-to knowledge and capacity building platform collecting information about local initiatives while supporting and promoting urban proximities at a global scale,” according to a press release announcing the launch.

“Together, the Observatory partners will develop a globally applicable concept based on proximity, official measures and indicators, a global centre for knowledge sharing and capacity building, and a global network to support cities in implementation,” explains the press release.

In the ensuing days since the press release was published, the East Coast of the United States was smothered by wildfire smoke drifting down from ongoing wildfires to the north in Canada, sending a palpable signal of the terrible damages of climate change to a heavily populated and relatively wealthy region. The development proximity sought by the new platform has been repeatedly shown to reduce causes of greenhouse gas emissions, and the United Nations has repeatedly called on the United States to transform its land use and transportation practices to help slow rising greenhouse gas emissions around the world. More proximity in development patterns would also prevent sprawl on the wildland-urban interface, which introduces various environmental risks and provides fuel for wildfires.

The platform was launched by four founding partners: the Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation Chair of the IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School (Chaire ETI), C40 Cities, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).